Jury Finds Hartford Man Guilty of Illegal Gun Possession

by Press Release

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal jury in Hartford has found JOSE PEREZ, 40, of Hartford, guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon.

The trial before U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant began yesterday and the jury returned the verdict this afternoon.

According to the evidence and testimony at trial, on November 13, 2016, Hartford Police detectives responding to a ShotSpotter activation recovered a loaded revolver in a car last registered to Perez and containing documents addressed to Perez in the glove box.  DNA analysis of the seized firearm indicated Perez had handled the firearm.

Prior to November 2016, Perez had sustained state felony convictions for narcotics and burglary offenses.  It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.


Perez was apprehended on January 19, 2021.


At sentencing, which is not scheduled, Perez faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.  Perez is released on a $30,000 bond pending sentencing.

This matter was investigated by the Hartford Police Department and the FBI’s Connecticut Violent Crime Task Force, with the assistance of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara E. Levens and Maria del Pilar Gonzalez.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

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Victim Witness Assistance

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